The value of horror

Happy Halloween! I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long month and I sure am ready to welcome in one of my favorite days of the year.

My trick-or-treating days are behind me, unfortunately, and I don’t live in an area where they come by, so Halloween evening for my husband and I has been consisting of a cozy night in with good food and a horror movie as the main event.

Growing up, I’ve had a hit-or-miss relationship with scary movies. On one hand, they bring back fun, nostalgic memories of spending Friday nights at my dad’s house. He, my brother and I loved going either to the theater or renting movies those days, back when Blockbuster and Hastings were still around.

We watched a whole array of movies when I was little, and scary movies were among them. I remember “Jaws” and “Tremors” were particular favorites of ours to watch, which I still have a soft spot for to this day.

Though, there was some stuff I probably watched a bit too early, like when I found “Silent Hill” while channel surfing as a kid — bad idea! I think I also watched one too many ghost movies somewhere along the way. All that coupled with despising jump scares and being squeamish at heart had me not liking horror movies all that much for a while there.

I took that time to explore a bunch of new genres, which my stepdad, Forrest, was a huge help in as our mutual interest in film was and still is something we bond over. Though we didn’t watch many scary movies, he did introduce me to a few of my spooky favorites, such as “Alien,” “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Nope.”

However, within the past few years the genre has since had a bit of a revival in my life not only through movies, but also in books and short stories, and I feel like I’ve come to understand and appreciate horror a lot more.

They are often hard watches and reads, so I understand why they are polarizing, and I respect people’s decision of not wanting to watch them because they can definitely leave a mark. However, I know there are many who just chalk them up to being depraved and void of meaning, which I disagree with. There are some that are just that, but there are always going to be bad movies that lack substance in any genre. Even so, the question I’ve been interested in is what is the value of horror as a genre and why do people like it?

Grace Lee, who makes video essays for the YouTube channel “What’s So Great About That” said, “Answers to that can routinely be summarized as the adrenaline of safe scares or a natural curiosity for the strange and mysterious,” which I agree with, but she also delves into how her interest in the genre actually has little to do with being scared, which I also resonate with.

Beyond entertainment, I love movies because they make me feel something and I feel like they broaden people’s empathy and world view. What I find fascinating about the horror genre is how it can creatively reflect the fears and inner struggles not only of an individual, but of society as a whole in a powerful, visceral and meaningful way if done right.

“The Witch,” by Robert Eggers, has been my latest and greatest example of this, as well as Ali Aster’s “Midsommar,” which I’ve best heard described as “a bold, bright, beautiful nightmare.”

The juxtaposition in “Midsommar” of the unfolding tale of horror over a pleasant backdrop was genius, and the symbolism and foreshadowing were some of the best I’ve seen. It also has some of the most gut-wrenching, impactful depictions of trauma, grief and toxic relationships and how easy it is for someone consumed by that to become isolated and susceptible.

As Lee said, “Horror has evolved from these primal stories that were used to explain the unknown for a tool expressing the known, but intangible.”

Lee also touched on something that I find most invigorating about the genre which is how it challenges the status quo.

“Genre, as a structure, delights in boundaries, but horror as a genre delights in transgressing boundaries,” Lee said. “All figures are built from this foundational violation — the living dead, the animate inanimate … the place where meaning collapses, where categories break down, boundaries blur, and institutions fall into question.”

Finally, there is what I struggled to put into words, but what Lee managed to say succinctly, “Outside of our automated routines, the world is becoming increasingly uncomfortable and there’s a relief in acknowledging it, even inviting it.”

Maybe that’s why it began a revival in my life when it did. It came around the time I was transitioning from college to the ‘real world’ and struggling to make sense of all the unknowns coming my way. Fear of the unknown is an integral element in horror for good reason, but the mystery of the unknown is also what makes it all so interesting, in life and in horror.